(Re)imaginingtheresearchassemblage:towardsscholaractivismKatherineRunswick-Cole

ProfessorofCriticalDisabilityStudies&Psychology,

ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity,Manchester,UnitedKingdom

@k_runswick_colek.runswick-cole@mmu.ac.uk

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Overview

• Keyterms

• Introducedisabilitystudies

• Reflectonresearchprojects

• Calltoworktowardsscholaractivism

• Isscholaractivismpossibleintheneoliberaluniversity?#ScholarActivism

(Re)imagining

• WrightMills,C.(1959)TheSociologicalImagination (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress).

• Titchkosky,T.(2007;2011)asksustoreadourreadingsandtowatchourwatchingsandtoquestion.

• Whoandwhatisimaginedintheresearchassemblage?#scholaractivism

Assemblage

• ‘Assemblagesasmachines’(Deleuze&Guattari,1988:4)

• Traditionalresearchassemblagesinclude:researcher,hypothesis,subjects,method,data,ethics&results#scholaractivism

EnterDisabilityStudies• disabilityasaformofsocialoppressionimposedonpeoplewithimpairmentsinadisablingworld;

• Disabilityqueersthenormativepitch#ScholarActivism

ScholarActivism

• KitchinandHubbard(1999)havearguedthatmostacademicsseektomaintainascholarly‘distance’betweentheiractivismandtheirteaching,researchandpublications.

• Emancipatorydisabilityresearch(Barnes,2003)

• Shouldacademicsmaintainascholarly‘distance’?#ScholarActivism

Becomingaserviceuser

• Becominga’serviceuser’

• Imaginingthe‘serviceuser’inresearch

• Whoholdsthepower?”Serviceuser”oruniversity?#ScholarActivism

ParentsasAdvocates:parentswhoregisterandappealwiththeSpecialEducationalNeedsandDisabilityTribunal

• Researchassemblageincluding:children,parents,teachersandahostofalliedprofessionalsandaraftofcomplexpoliciesandlegislationandcomplexpowerrelationships.

• Disabilityaspartofthenaturalvariation(Michalko,2002).

• Thankyoutoallthe#BloodyAwesomeParents#BAPsforeverythingyou’vetaughtme#ScholarActivism

Children,youngpeopleandfamilies

• Challengethepsychologisationindisabledchildren’slives(GoodleyandRunswick-Cole,2010,2012a)

• Exposeandtheorisethesystemic,culturalandattitudinalviolence(GoodleyandRunswick-Cole,2011)

• Celebratedisabledchildrenandyoungpeople’spotential(GoodleyandRunswick-Cole,2012b)

• DoesEveryChildMatter,post-Blair?https://doeseverychildmatterpostblair.wordpress.com#scholaractivism

DisabledChildren’sChildhoodStudies

• Child,Youth,FamilyandDisabilityConferences

• Differentstartingpoints– theviewthatstudiesofchildren’simpairments,ormedical

conditions,orevaluationsofservicesforchildrenwerenotstudiesofdisabledchildren’s

childhoods.

• Distinctapproachtoethicsandvoice– whichputchildren’sandfamiliesconcernsfirst;

• Troublesthehegemonyofthenorm– thismeansnotjudgingdisabledchildren’slivesin

referencetosomemythicalnotionofnormalchildhood. (CurranandRunswick-Cole,2013;

2014;Runswick-Cole,CurranandLiddiard,2017)

• Checkoutdisabledchildren’schildhoodstudieshere@tilliecurran@kirstyliddiard1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0BxCP5TcVc #ScholarActivism

#JusticeforLB

Follow @justiceforLB #justiceforLB #ScholarActivism

BringBrandonhome

Sign the petition #bringBrandonhome http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/get-brandon-home-for-christmas#ScholarActivism

HumanActivism

• Selfadvocacyhttp://speakup.org.uk• Employmenthttp://bossemployment.co.uk• Communityinclusionhttp://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/peteandwendycrane/news1.html;http://community-circles.co.uk

• Beinghuman• Follow@humanactivism#ScholarActivism

BecomingDisHuman• ADisHumanreality:

• onewhich,wecontend,simultaneouslyacknowledgesthepossibilitiesofferedbydisabilitytotrouble,re-shapeandre-fashiontraditionalconceptionsofthehuman(to‘dis’typicalunderstandingsofpersonhood)whilesimultaneouslyassertingdisabledpeople’shumanity(toassertnormative,oftentraditional,understandingsofpersonhood).(Goodley&Runswick-Cole,2014,p.6)

• ReadtheDisHumanmanifestohere:https://dishuman.com/dishuman-manifesto/ #ScholarActivism

Moreresearchassemblages• Intimatecitizenshiphttp://makingspaceforintimatecitizenship.wordpress.com

• EnactingCriticalDisabilityStudiesinEducation

• TheMeaning(s)ofValueinarts-basededucationhttps://valuingcreativity.wordpress.com

• SupportingYouthOffendingTeamshttp://www2.mmu.ac.uk/mcys/current-research--activities/send-project/

• Selfemploymentforpeoplewithlearningdisabilitieshttp://www.bossemployment.co.uk

LearningDisabilityEngland

• Follow@LearningDisEngland&@LDEAcademics#ScholarActivism

LivingLifetotheFullest

• LivingLifetotheFullestFollow https://livinglifetothefullest.org #ScholarActivism

DevolutionManchester

Follow https://rebuildingvalue.wordpress.com#ScholarActivism

• Community Research Award

CulturalRepresentations

@caracourage @networknicola @urbaneprofessor this is for you - #academicarchers as THE site for #ScholarActivism?!

Finalwords

We need #ScholarActivism

• Barnes,C.2003:WhataDifferenceaDecadeMakes:reflectionsondoing‘emancipatory’disabilityresearch.DisabilityandSociety,18(1),3- 17.

• Chatterton,P.,Hodkinson,S.N.&Pickerell,J.(2006)BeyondScholarActivism:makingstrategicinterventionsinsideandoutsidetheneoliberaluniversityOnlineat:http://www.paulchatterton.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/beyond-scholar-activism-final-version-feb-09.pdf

• Deleuze,G.andGuattari,F.(1988)AThousandPlateaus:CapitialismandSchizophenia,London:Continuum.

• Curran,T.andRunswick-Cole,K.(eds)(2013) DisabledChildren’sChildhoodStudies:CriticalApproachesinaGlobalContext, Basingstoke:PalgraveMacMillan.

• Curran,T.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2014)DisabledChildren’sChildhoodStudies:anemergingdomainofinquiry?Disability&Society. 29(10):1617-1630.

• Farnum,R.(2016)Scholactivism– agrowingmovmentofscholaractivistsOnlineat:http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160530142606345

• Goodley,D.(2011)DisabilityStudies:aninterdisciplinaryintroduction,London:Routledge

• Goodley,D.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2010)Emancipatingplay:Dis/abledchildren,developmentanddeconstruction,Disability&Society,25(4):499- 512.

• Goodley,D.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2011)Theviolenceofdisablism,JournalofSociologyofHealthandIllness, 33(4):602-17

• Goodley,D.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2012a)ReadingRosie:thepostmoderndis/abledchild,EducationalandChildPsychology,29(2):53-66.

• Goodley,D.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2012b)Thebodyasdisabilityandpossability:Theorisingthe‘leaking,lackingandexcessive’bodiesofdisabledchildren,ScandinavianJournalofDisabilityResearch,1-19.

• Goodley,D.,Lawthom,R,&Runswick-Cole,K.(2014)Posthumandisabilitystudies.Subjectivity, 7(1):342-361.

• Goodley,D.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2014a)BigSociety?Disabledpeoplewiththelabeloflearningdisabilitiesandthequeer(y)ingofcivilsociety,ScandinavianJournalofDisabilityResearch.17(1):1-13.

• Goodley,D.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2014b)Becomingdis/human:Thinkingaboutthehumanthroughdisability, Discourse:StudiesintheCulturalPoliticsofEducation,37(1):1-15.

• Fox,N.J.&Alldred,P.(2015)Newmaterialistsocialinquiry:designs,methodsandtheresearch-assemblage,InternationalJournalofSocialResearchMethodology,18:4,399-414

• Hickey-Moody,A.(2013).Deleuze'schildren.EducationalPhilosophyandTheory,45(3),272-286

• Hodge,N.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2008)ProblematisingParent-ProfessionalRelationships,DisabilityandSociety, 23(6):637-647.

• Kitchen,R.andHubbard,P.(1999)Research,actionand‘critical’geographies.Area,31.4.195-198

• Mallett,R.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2014)ApproachingDisability:criticalissuesandperspectives,London:Routledge.

• Michalko,R.(2002)TheDifferencethatDisabilityMakes,Toronto:TheUniversityofTorontoPress.

• Mitchell,D.,andSynder,S.(2000)NarrativeProsthesis:DisabilityandtheDependenciesofDiscourse (Corporealities:DiscoursesofDisability).Michigan:TheUniversityofMichiganPress.

• Ryan,S.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2008)Fromadvocatetoactivist?Mappingtheexperiencesofmothersofchildrenontheautismspectrum,JournalofAppliedResearchinIntellectualDisabilities,22(1):43-53.

• Ryan,S.andRunswick-Cole,K.(2008)RepositioningMothers:Mothers,DisabledChildrenandDisabilityStudies,DisabilityandSociety, 23(3):199-210.

• Runswick-Cole,K.andGoodley,D.(2015)DisabilityandAusterity:‘CruelOptimism’inBigSociety,CanadianJournalofDisabilityStudies4(2):162-186

• Runswick-Cole,K.andHodge,N.(2009)Needsorrights?Achallengetothediscourseofspecialeducation,BritishJournalofSpecialEducation,36(4):198-203.

• Runswick-Cole,K.,Mallett,R.andTimimi,S.(eds)(2016)Re-thinkingautism,London:JessicaKingsleyPublishing.

• Titchkosky,T.(2007)ReadingandWritingDisabilityDifferently:TheTexturedLifeofEmbodiment,Toronto:UniversityofTorontoPress

• Titchkosky,T.(2011)AQuestionofAccess,Toronto:UniversityofTorontoPress.

• WrightMills,C.(1959)TheSociologicalImagination (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress).